A £7,000,000 FROST.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 275, 12 April 1913, Page 3

A £7,000,000 FROST.

CALIFORNJAX ORANGE CROP. j REDUCED NEARLY ONE-HALF. ! While California does not. as .some of | it farmers are fond of saying, suffer i'from the periodical droughts which afflict certain parts of Australia, it is subject to other weather conditions which' are almost as devastating. An unexpected frost, lasting four nights in the first weak of January accompanied by cold winds, has practically wiped out the lemon crop in the southem portion of the State, and reduced the orange crop by nearly half:' The production of citrus fruits is a big industry in California. In Southern California alone it is valued at about £lO,000,000 a year, and this season's output would have been the largest on record. What it has been reduced to is a matter of estimattion to some extent, but the railway officials who are hi close touch with the situation, place the loss as follows:—Loss to growers, £4,000,000; loss to shippers, £1,000,000; loss to railway companies, £2,000,000—0r a total of about £7,000,000. Reservations of more than 30,000 cars have been cancelled by the orange and lemon growers. Already the remainder of the company is taking steps to protect itself against California's frost-bitten oranges. Fruit inspectors, in a number of instances, have intimated that the damaged produce will not be permitted entry into other States, and some of the Califomian growers whose orchards have escaped comparatively unharmed are asking for legislation 'prohibiting the sale of frost-bitten i oranges. Heroic and extraordinary attempts, were made to save the crop from the effects of.the.-frost. Night after night thousands of men were in the orchards using every device known •to them for keeping up the temperature. Oil heaters and smudge pots were kept burning under the trees, and some trees were covered with tarpaulins, but this latter nvocess is the more expensive. An oil heater placed under an orange tree raises the temperature several degrees, and in some years this process has been found sufficient to protect the citrns fruit from injury. But this year the temperature fell lower than at any time in the last thirty years in Southern California, going nearly as low as 20 degrees Fahr., and the fact that cold winds blew at the same time the frost appeared was a new experience here. The question of the protection of fruit crops from frost is being taken up by the Federal Department of Agriculture, largely as the result of disastrous losses of the Californian orange growers, and ,i meeting of experienced officials is to he held at Washington. California has done more than any other State in fighting frost, and them atter has been stud-

icd closely in tliat Statu. So far as tlie consideration of the problem of frost protection has pone, three, general principles are recognised as effective in preventing damage to fruit. These are adding heat (by oil stoves)- smudge pots, (or covering), saving heat (that is, eonserving the best of the earth, plants, and lower air), and making or stirring the air. Experiments along these lines have been carried ©ut. but it is evident that 'mteli requ'iTs to be done to reduce the lability to loss from frost to a minimum.